Dear {!firstname},

I talked to someone recently who relies on his outsourcer for strategic direction. Another was working with his accounting firm on a software selection. Please don't be surprised when your outsourcer recommends you continue outsourcing. Keep in mind your accounting firm has incentive to recommend a software solution that they resell and implement.

Outsourcers, accounting firms and implementers offer very important services. We refer clients to the best of them once we know the right strategy for the client. Meanwhile, check out "Why Bother Creating an IT Strategy?" to understand why the strategy is the horse and the implementation is the cart...

Feel free to forward this to others who may find this newsletter helpful.

Sincerely,

Laura Pettit Rusick
OPT Solutions, Inc.
www.optsolutionsinc.com

Does IT Strategy sound like a "nice to have" or seem too "soft" to spend time or money on it?

Sadly, there are many situations where serious money is wasted on equipment, software and even people where the organization did not get the appropriate return.

Why would return be a problem? Consider these actual situations:

• Specialized hardware is purchased ahead of a project to custom develop software. The assessment of whether it makes sense to create software was never done and new management realizes pursuing it would be expensive, with little return over packaged software available on the market.
  Result: Idle equipment and significant loss of investment.
• An organization has hired multiple IT Directors, with few lasting more than a year. The business is frustrated by the lack of progress on IT projects.
  Result: Turnover is expensive. The IT team's productivity is low without direction from the right leader and adversely affects customers.
• A long, relatively expensive telecommunications contract was signed for an existing facility. No discussions on whether the business might move in the future took place.
  Result: The business will now incur heavy cancellation penalties.
• The CEO of a company knew he had to bring in new software. He picked the software and had it installed. To his chagrin, no one liked using it and workarounds were needed for it to function. The software selection wasn't treated as a formal project guided by best practices and didn't involve the people who would use the system.
  Result: Software, training and implementation costs are doubled. Decreased productivity and morale while trying to make the first selection work negatively impact the organization.

It is critical to relate your IT Strategy to your organizational strategy. Do you expect significant growth in the future? Organic growth or growth via acquisition? Will you be moving? Divesting a business? Adding new products?

Remember, good strategy will result when your IT team leader (CIO, IT Director, Retained CIO) is talking with the key executives who drive your organization. When IT is a partner helping the business achieve its strategy, benefits include:

• The appropriate mix of internal and outsourced resources.
• Alignment to the business goals, creating a measuring stick against which to prioritize IT projects, and a comparison to determine whether an IT strategy is appropriate.
• Productive projects which are meeting business needs.
• Confidence that the IT budget is cost-effectively supporting your business strategy.

Copyright © 2010 by Laura Pettit Rusick.

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